Fallout: Nuclear Winter Wasteland
by Paintpaws
Summary: The world was bathed in atomic light, nothing was left untouched. Expect the vaults. What used to be the United Kingdom is now stuck in a permanent, icy nuclear winter. It's cold, wet and dangerous, so unlike the vaults where humanity was stored. So when others are forced to face the blizzards, they must adjust to the bitterness of the wastes. Fast. ((Fallout in the UK/England))
1. The Caravan Guards

"We have to keep moving, before the sleet sets in."

The group around the campfire looked up at the caravan guard who had spoken, dark haired and pale skinned. He looked back at them from the boarded up window he was peering out of.

"Lighten up Arthur," Another guard said calmly as she warmed her gloved hands on the fire, "Have something to eat, relax. We'll make it."

Arthur pursed his lips and turned to the window. The cracks between the boards showed the remains of what used to be a high street, once filled with busy shoppers but was now nothing more then rows of crumbling buildings. They were staying in one of the more sturdy ones, but even then Arthur could feel the cold air biting at his face through the window. He lifted his grey scarf over his mouth and nose and sighed, letting his own breath warm his face.

"Laura's right Arthur, you don't get your rest, you'll never survive the cold." The caravan's merchant said. He turned the mutated pigeon spit roast over the fire, the meat of the bird turning brown. "If the sleet's too bad we'll just hold up here, see what we can find."

"I'd love to check out that pier." A third guard said absent mindedly prodding the fire with a stick.

"Oh yeah Robert, and when you fall into the irradiated sea I ain't gonna be the one to pull your arse out." Laura snapped, but then laughed.

The merchant smiled then turned back to Arthur, who was still looking at the sleet. "Sit down kid, you're making the place look untidy." He took one of the legs off of a bird roast, "Have some pigeon, it's good for you."

Arthur stared out into the street for a while longer before coming back to the fire to take a pigeon drumstick. It had a gamy taste but he was used to it, living off irradiated wildlife was part of the job. The group of four chatted about adventure and told stories that they had learned, most of which had been told between them many times before.

Robert meanwhile, was only half in the conversations. Between eating and talking he was tinkering with a radio he had picked up earlier, hoping to find a station that still worked after two hundred years. Yet to the surprise of the four, underneath the crackles of static, they could hear a voice.

"That was... by... now do... the..." The voice was faint, by it sent the group silent, Robert turned some dials until the voice became clear.

"...Somehow one of those gangs managed to convince their overseer to open the vault doors. The poor idiot, 'cause now he's screwed over the ones he's meant to be protecting, or she, but either way. Not too sure why they trusted an outsider like that, but it hasn't been good for them." The voice was smooth and crisp, a women was speaking.

"My reports are saying that about a dozen of the vault dwellers just bolted, ran off into the wastes. In my opinion, they're all screwed, I hear they've got central heating down in those vaults, none of that up here." She laughed, the group exchanged looks. "But seriously, if one of you vault dwellers can here me then stay warm, stay protected and stay safe. And if any good people can hear me then help these poor souls. Remember these guys aren't fresh meat, they're just baby birds fresh out the nest, have a heart. Now for tonight we have some classics so stay tuned and have a good night, I'll see you in the morning, goodnight Southend!"

A pre-recorded advertisement jingle played before a piano based song began to play. The group looked down mournfully at the radio, Laura sighed.

"Poor bastards." She muttered, looking away.

Robert looked up hopefully at the merchant, "Do you know where that vault is?"

"You're getting paid to keep me and my goods safe, not to go off and play hero." The merchant growled. "It's their fault for opening the doors, the could have stayed down there until the world ended and been safe."

"They already did." Arthur murmured, he threw the rest of his drumstick into the fire, suddenly not feeling very hungry.

Laura tsked, "Poor bastards." She repeated, she sat back and rested her hands to the ground and stared into the fire. The remaining meat on the bone bubbling and blackening before melting away into nothingness.

Robert sighed and turned the radio's volume down. The women had said she wouldn't speak again until the morning but he didn't want to hear any 'breaking news' about the vault's residence.

The merchant sighed, realising that he may of upset the three guards. "Look kids, if we run into any vaulties then we'll let them tag along, sound fair?"

The guards agreed, Arthur stood and returned to the window. The sleet had started to settle, it was around an inch or so thick on the ground. He frowned, he could of sworn he'd heard a distant bang.

"Turn the radio off." He commanded, Robert frowned but knew the tone of Arthur's voice, he switched the radio off. The group fell silent, they listened.

_Bang bang bang_

Arthur turned back to the group with alarm, the gunfire was distant but had echoed down the street, bouncing of the shop ruins. Laura and Robert got the their feet, guns in hands, Arthur took the hunting rifle from his back.

"Get the horse indoors." The merchant hissed. Laura lent against the door back into the wastes and peered out before opening it and leading a speckled horse in through the shop doors. Arthur held one door open and quickly surveyed the outside.

The merchant took the horse's reigns and stroked it's neck in an attempt to prevent it from making noise. Robert stamped the fire out and Arthur retook his place at the window, Laura pointed her assault rifle at the door.

"Come out come out where ever you are." A voice echoed down the high street.

Somehow the group became more quite, yet everything they did seemed loud, their breathing, every squeak of their leather armour. They waited.

Arthur could hear multiple footsteps now. He pulled his scarf over his face to muffle his breathing and leaned away from the boarded up window. The soft splattering sound of many pairs boots on sleet was get closer.

"Come out and play." A second, female voice called out.

"We'll find you." A third voice added.

A raider ran into view and slid on the mushy sleet, he came to a stop and twirled around, "Where are you, you fancy little git."

"Come on, we won't stain your pretty little suit." Another raider said as she came into view.

Arthur frowned, so they're looking for a vault dweller, he thought. He looked back over to Robert, who looked as though he'd come to the same conclusion.

It's like a game to them, Robert thought bitterly, A hunt, the thrill of the chase and the kill. He shook his head, not wanting to get too passionate over people he couldn't help

"Oh come on sweetie! We're just like the girlie on the radio said." There were six raiders outside the shop now, six that Arthur could see anyway. "We're just welcoming you to Southend, come out and say hi!" The raider had a shrill laugh.

In the store opposite the group's shelter came a noise, all the raider's whirled and faced it. They exchanged looks before stalking towards it. Before they could get too close the door burst open and a young man dressed in a blue and yellow jumpsuit came running out and bolted down the street. He didn't get far.

At the sound of gunfire Robert glided towards the window. The vault dweller was on the ground, his blood was giving colour to the greyish white sleet that he was sprawled on. Two of the raiders moved in, one brandishing a baseball bat with nails hammered into it, the other with a lead pipe.

Robert couldn't watch.

But he was't going to just let it happen. Before anyone else could stop him he drew his shotgun and took off out the store. Without hesitation he fired the gun into the back one of the raiders heads before the raiders noticed him, brains splattered into the street.

Before the rest of the raiders could react any further Laura kicked the door open and sprayed them with bullets, being careful to avoid Robert. The two raiders that had been stalking the vault dweller turned on Robert, both of them running at him. The caravan guard shot one of them in the chest at point blank range, Arthur killed the other, who had joined the fray.

Robert reloaded his weapon and gave cover to Laura, who was now reloading her assault rifle, having drove the other four raiders away. He and Arthur easily killed the rest.

Once the last raider was down the street was silent once more, the sleet was still falling. All that could be heard were the the moans of pain from the vault dweller. Robert was closest, he moved swiftly towards the wounded man. The raiders had shot him in the leg, belly and shoulder and was bleeding out onto the sleet, yet he still tried to scramble away when the caravan guard came near.

"N-No, please!" He chocked out. Robert froze. He was close enough to see that the man had blood dribbling from his mouth, his breathing was erratic and shallow, he was shaking all over. Robert knew the signs.

"I'm not going to hurt you," He said, holstering his shotgun, "You're okay, you're going to be okay." He lied.

The vault dweller didn't relax. He was confused, distressed and hurting badly, he became even more confused when Laura approached him and crouched down close to him.

"Hold on, we've got you." She said, inspecting his wounds. the merchant would likely make a better medic then she was, but she still wanted to see the damage.

The merchant came out on to the street and joined Arthur, both of the keeping watch.

"Stupid boy, could have been killed." The merchant grumbled.

Arthur sighed, "He's gone into shock."

The merchant blinked, "Who, R-" His eyes widened when he saw the state of the vault dweller, "Oh.." was all he could manage.

"He's not going to make it, is he?" Arthur asked quietly.

The pair of them watched Robert and Laura try to keep the vault dweller calm and as warm and comfortable as they could manage in the harsh British winds. The vault dweller was laying down now, he'd been given painkillers and sleeping drugs. The group didn't carry anything powerful enough to save him.

"No." The merchant said bluntly,

The merchant walked back into the shop and returned shortly with a thick blanket. He crouched down beside Laura and smiled kindly at the vault dweller, he didn't look over twenty, he was still so young.

"It will hurt too much to move you inside son, but this'll keep you warm." He gently put the blanket over the dying man, who lifted his still working arm up over the itchy fabric to pull it closer. With the help of the two caravan guards, the merchant tucked the blanket under the vault dweller's body.

"T-Thank you." The vault dweller managed to splutter, the merchant removed his long coat and made a makeshift pillow for the man. He thanked them again.

The sleet was falling quite heavily now, the wet snow lightly building on the blanket but was swept away by the guards. Arthur stood closer, but didn't watch the man, he considered looting the raider's bodies, but it didn't seem appropriate. Laura stroked the vault dweller's short blond hair, the merchant and Robert kept the snow from building. The merchant was half watching the man's breathing

His breaths were still shallow, hardly noticeable under the thick blanket, they were slower too. The man was asleep, either the drugs had kicked in or his body was shutting down on him. It wasn't long before he stopped breathing altogether, yet the guards and merchant stayed around him a little while longer.

"We can't just leave him here," Laura whispered, "Next to them." She gestured to the raider's corpses.

"Well we ain't gonna bury him, if that's what you're implying." The merchant grumbled.

"No, just move him." Laura replied.

Arthur moved closer to the trio, "We could put him where he was hiding." He suggested, "Where he was brave enough to try to get away."

The group silently agreed, Arthur lifted the vault dweller's body, he was lighter then the guard was expecting. He carried him to the store and found that it was once filled with many tables, chairs and booths, it used to be a fancy restaurant of some sort. Arthur gently placed the young man on a surviving red leather booth. The merchant reclaimed the blanket.

The group of four stood mournfully around the body for a few moment before the merchant turned to leave, collecting his coat on the street. Arthur soon followed, Laura and Robert left last together.

Back inside the shop the group had first taken shelter in Arthur had returned to the window and the merchant spoke quietly to his horse, but Robert just stood silently.

Laura came up next to him, after a few seconds Robert hugged her, she lightly petted his hair, he was shorter than her.

"It isn't fair." He whispered.

"I know." She replied.

* * *

><p><em>Level up, New perk: There's no I in Team<em>

_Attack one and you get all of them on your arse, upsetting or betraying one will do the same. One dives into battle and they all follow. Killing one of their own will only increase their attack. Loyal to the bitter end, as it should be._


	2. Beside the Seaside

The sun rose sleepily, It's beams were tainted by the pale clouds that hung in the sky, but they still stubbornly shone through. What remained of Southend was bathed in warm light. It had once been a sea side town, the air still smelt clean yet salty.

Arthur and the merchant had risen early, early enough to see the sky change. Laura and Robert still slept, curled up beside one another. Whether they slept soundly was another thing, Arthur took the radio to the other side of their shelter, which used to be a book store. He set the radio on the store counter beside the till and switched it on just as a song was ending.

_"Nothing really matters, anyone can see, nothing really matters... Nothing really matters.. To me."_

The song faded into piano, the merchant lifted his head towards the radio. He was sitting beside his horse, who had been kept inside for the night and was now curled up on the floor like an overgrown dog.

"Good morning Southend!" Came the same perky voice from the night before. "I hope you all slept well, I heard somebody didn't; the gun fire coming from down the high street hasn't been confirmed as raiders but it's highly likely. What or who they ran into is anybodies guess but apparently they took off after a vault kid and after the gunfire no one returned. Who knows, maybe the kid fought back, I'd like to hope that's what happened anyway."

The caravan guard sighed, if only it had gone down that way. The merchant shook his head and lightly petted his horse.

"If you're still blaming yourself for that vaultie's death then I can think of better ways of wasting your time." He growled coldly over the morning news report.

Arthur rolled his shoulders, he was considering arguing back with the merchant but he remembered that he and his friends needed to get paid at the end of their trip. He turned his attention back to the radio.

"...But aside from that I can tell you that we're in for more snow later today, so if you've got places to be, get there now while the ice is melting. But stay on your guard, raiders are still hunting those missing vault dwellers. I don't care if you're a mercenary or a wanderer, raiders ain't picky."

"We should get out early then." Arthur said, the merchant nodded and patted his horse to get it to wake up.

"Come on Rosemary, rise and shine." He said to the paint mare, she got to her hooves and snorted at the rude awakening. The merchant nodded again to Arthur, "Get yours." He said as he dressed the horse in reins and a saddle.

Laura was beginning to stir as Arthur reached the other two guards, she blinked up at him with blue eyes and brushed a stray blonde hair from her eyes, "Morning." She groaned before yawning.

"We're gonna leave before the sleet starts again." Arthur said coolly, he nudged Robert's foot while talking, Robert gave an offended grunt.

"I swear you said that yesterday." Laura rubbed her eyes, "Can't we get breakfast."

"On the way." The merchant interrupted bluntly, "Get your boyfriend up or we'll leave without him."

Breakfast often came from cans, this morning it was two hundred year out of date peaches. They probably weren't as sweet as they once were, the syrup was probably thicker too, but none of them knew any better.

The peaches had been taken from the fancy restaurant and final resting place of the vault dweller. Only the merchant and Arthur had the nerve to go back inside. Laura and Robert chose to loot the corpses of the raiders that were now buried in four inches of half frozen, watery snow.

Ammo was found for their weapons, shot gun shells for Robert and caliber rounds for Arthur and Laura. There wasn't much else, but the merchant took most of the sellable items.

Now they had to walk down closer to the seafront, closer to where the vault was that had been invaded by raiders.

The caravan travelled slowly down the high street in a way that allowed the guards to cover the caravan it'self from all sides. Arthur was at the back and Laura and Robert were leading. The merchant lead his horse and cart between them. They walked in silence, holding their guns, listening for any sign of life.

Soon the guards began to notice each building now was looking slightly better than the last. Closer to the book store some buildings only had one wall remaining, yet most of these were still standing. Laura asked the merchant why.

"They bombed the shit outta the train station but forgot that this place had a seaside." He chuckled to himself, "Probably knew that the people on the beach already got a great tan from those megatons up there." Laura grimaced.

"Most of these people got into the vault, nobody would be lying on a beach if they knew that they were about to be bombed." Robert said quickly, in an attempt to relax Laura.

The merchant sneered, "I was just joking."

Arthur shushed the group, being in an empty high street with tall buildings made their voices echo. All of a sudden the buildings gave way to a blue skeleton of a building, metal strips arched up and criss-crossed downwards. A thicker metal bar separated the arch from the square criss-crosses, a few shards of glass hung from the blue metal bars. _The Royals_ had been crudely painted on a rectangle of blue metal.

"This is it." The merchant whispered.

"You can't be serious." Laura hissed, "This place is barley standing."

"Move it, the shops are underground." The merchant said. Hesitantly, Laura and Robert lead forward, pushing open the mangled metal doors.

Inside was no better then the outside. They stepped out onto the shattered tile floor, coated in melting snow and broken glass from what used to be the domed skylight. Displays stood either side of them, past the broken windows stood old manikins of children, yet their clothes were missing.

"Mind your feet Rosemary," The merchant cooed to his horse, he turned to the Laura and Robert. "Keep moving forward 'till you get to a big opening."

"I don't like this place." Robert muttered as he stepped over a lopsided bench.

"Tuff."

"How come there's no one else about?" Laura asked.

"The place is a secret, with raiders so close it has to be."

Laura hummed as she shuffled through the broken glass, trying to clear a way for the horse. She and Robert made it to the circular centre of the building first, where there was even more broken glass strewn about the damp floor. The shops here were boarded up and there was a collection of ruined tables and chairs in one corner.

"The red one." The merchant said. He gestured to one of the shops, one with an empty red sign above it.

The group began to head towards the ruined shop when they heard laughter behind them.

"Well well well, look what we've got here."

Arthur whirled around and pointed his hunting rifle ahead. He was forced to step back in surprise at the number of raiders that had managed to creep up on the caravan.

"Aww, look how scared the little boy is." One of the female raiders cooed. Arthur recovered from the shock and aimed his weapon, the other guards following suit.

Arthur gritted his teeth and fired his hunting rifle at the female raider before diving behind a fallen table. The shot hit the female raider in the shoulder. Laura and Robert fired at the raiders whilest backing away towards the caravan, the raidiers started shooting back.

The merchant attempted to calm his spooked horse. The mare reared up with frightened whinnies, trying to break free of her reins.

"Do something!" Laura snapped as she cowarded behind the caravan.

The merchant looked from Laura to the raiders, who had now destroyed Arthur's makeshift barricade. He then looked to Rosemary.

"Alright girl, lets get out of here." He muttered. He took out a knife and cut Rosemary free of the caravan, swung himself up onto the saddle and took ahold of the reins. "Go girl, go!" He shouted, kicking his legs and shaking the reins, Rosemary galloped away.

Laura and Robert stared at the merchant in horror. He didn't get far before a raider noticed him getting away and planted a bullet in his skull. The merchant fell from the horse and hit the ground with a thunk, Rosemary continued charging onwards without a rider and out of The Royals.

Arthur crashed in beside Robert, heavily bleeding. "I'm out." He said between breaths, seemingly not caring about the merchant's death.

"What do we do now?" Robert hissed. The raiders had stopped firing, instead they were taunting the guards from the other side of the caravan. Laura surveyed the area.

"We peg it." She whispered, "Split up or something, I'll go back the way we came, you go into the store and Arthur goes down there." She pointed to a ruined door way leading off into darkness.

"How do we know that that goes anywhere." Robert hissed back, "And what about the stuff?"

"I don't care where that goes, I'm bleeding out already." Arthur muttered, he rocked on the balls of his feet. "Ready?"

Laura grimaced. "On the count of three."

A grenade toppled over the caravan and in front of the three guards, "Screw it! Go now!" Laura shouted, taking off with her rifle in hand.

Robert bolted towards the red shop, shouldering the doors open and slamming them shut behind him. Arthur could hear him shouting for help inside the building.

The dark haired guard was knocked down by the explosion, he hissed in pain. His ears were ringing and his legs were burning. The raiders laughter sounded distant.

He struggled to his feet, dropped his empty gun and ran through the broken doors. Pushing himself off of the walls for extra speed and continued running. Arthur could feel the sticky warm blood underneath his leather armour. His chest was starting ache but the adrenalin of fight or flight was pumping around his body, keeping him running, forcing him to ignore his pain.

The raiders were whooping and laughing behind him, but hie didn't care to look. The hallways were dark and he almost stumbled down a metal flight of stairs, he clanged down the spiralling staircase noisily.

Skipping the last few steps and bolting ahead, he could see daylight. But the raiders were close behind, he felt like a fox on the run from the hounds. In his haste he didn't look where he was going, tripping and landing roughly on the concrete ground below him. The ringing came back.

He didn't know what he tripped on, he didn't care. He rolled himself onto his back and saw the raiders. Five of them had followed him, they were walking towards him, walking to mock him. Arthur felt sick, the air smelt salty and it burnt his tired lungs.

"You're all outta luck, mate." The leading raider laughed. He brandished a lead pipe, Arthur noticed that none of them had any guns. He felt even more shamed. He pushed himself backwards with his legs, pawing the ground behind him blindly in search of some sort of weapon.

_I'm going to die,_ He felt a part of him saying. _I'm going to die lying on the floor for a bunch of melee bastards. _

But still he tried to get away, then his hand touched something. Something metal, something gun shaped. Arthur pulled the weapon out from behind his back, a 10mm pistol. He didn't question where it came from, he just aimed at the closest raider, prayed for bullets and squeezed the trigger.

The raider fell to her knees, dead. Arthur shoot twice at the next raider, who had jumped back in surprise, and emptied the rest of the clip onto the last three.

The gunshots echoed around the room before falling silent. The only thing Arthur could hear was his own blood rushing around his ears. He flopped down onto his back and laughed to himself. But once the adrenaline faded the searing pain in his chest and legs returned. The caravan guard shut his eyes and took deep breaths. He'd have to find the strength to get on his feet, or he could wait until someone found him, but that might take too long..

"Did you kill them all?" Arthur's eyes snapped open. He whipped his head around to the source of the voice, his vision blurred in complaint to the sudden movement.

Hidden half in the shadows, curled up with her knees to her chest, was a vault dweller. She stared at Arthur with dark, panicked eyes.

Arthur blinked a few times, he chocked and pushed himself upright. He was just about to speak when he felt the blood rush to his head, the nauseous feeling was too much for him. The ringing in his ears took over, his eyes heavy eyes and his arms gave way beneath him.

The last thing he saw was the vault dweller dart towards him. Her shouts fell on deaf ears.

* * *

><p><em>Level up, New perk: Guardian Angel<em>

_Sometimes things just go your way, and there's no way of explaining it. You're luck is boasted when there seems to be no way out, and remember, there's always light at the end of the tunnel._


End file.
